HaruGou
by Confused Panda Bear
Summary: WARNING: M-RATED. A collection of one-shots based around the Haruka x Gou pairing. Fluff and other stuff. But mainly the other stuff.
1. Obsession

**HaruGou**

**By Confused Panda Bear**

* * *

**One**

"**Obsession"**

* * *

He surveyed her with hooded eyes, leaning against the bathroom door with his arms folded across his broad chest.

The room was cloudy with the humidity, the air laced with the smell of lavender bath salts.

Gou sunk into the bathtub, her lithe body disappearing into the water; the ends of her long red hair floating across its surface. Her eyelids fluttered close and she let out an appreciative moan, welcoming the waters warm temperature that massaged her aching muscles.

"You didn't wait for me," he finally spoke, startling the girl as she flailed into awareness, splashing a little as she did so.

"H–Haru!" she stammered, her cheeks flushing pink. "How long have you been standing there?"

With an unreadable expression, he sauntered towards her at an agonizingly leisured pace. He stopped next to the bathtub and loomed over her without a word, and she crossed her arms over her chest, belatedly recalling her nudity.

As she opened her mouth to speak, Haru kneeled down beside the tub, resting his chin against the cold, ceramic edge.

Without hesitation, he dipped his fingers into the water just above her stomach, creating ripples across its surface – his blue eyes fixated on the patterns that he had made.

Haru always looked so serene – so at peace when he was around water – yet Gou observed his movements with a little annoyance, wondering what on earth would it take for him to look at _her_ like that some day.

"I'm sorry," she apologized in their pulsating silence. "I would have waited but you were taking too long and the water was getting cold and..."

Her words trailed off when he continued to ignore her, and she sighed exaggeratedly, turning her head away from her inattentive boyfriend with a small but noticeable huff.

The young man dealt his girlfriend a sideways glance, and a rare smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

Haru was fully aware that he wasn't good at this 'boyfriend' thing.

He thanked the gods that Gou had the patience of a saint when it came to their relationship, but with each passing day it seemed as if that tolerance was wearing thin.

He had never been good with words, with feelings or emotions.

He could not charm her like Makoto probably could, make her laugh the way Nagisa did, or capture her interest with facts and statistics like Rei – but he knew the strength of what he felt for her, and had hoped that she had felt it too.

Because in truth, the red-haired girl made him suffer through an array of emotions he hadn't thought possible to feel for another human being.

He was unbelievably happy when she was around, empty was she was gone, and could even illicit an almost violent response from him whenever the captain of the Samezuka swim team would openly flirt with her.

With Gou, he felt out of control in the most incredible way, which always left him wondering how she could ever doubt that he loved her – thought the absolute world of her – and believed himself to be the luckiest man alive because of her.

The water stirred as he boldly let his skin glide over hers, tracing the tops of her thighs with his fingers so lightly that it both tantalized and tormented her.

He felt Gou tense in surprise and he almost retracted his hands if she hadn't afterwards pressed into his touch, indicating that she welcomed his caresses.

With a flattened palm, his fingers travelled upwards, over her hipbone and narrow waist, thumbing over her cute little belly button before they dipped back between her legs a flirted with the inside of her thighs.

Her breath caught and she could have sworn she saw him smirk when it did.

"Ha...ruka?" she had barely managed, dealing him a veiled glance of curiosity.

Haru straightened up to meet her gaze, taking in her moistened lips; the damp fall of her hair, the way the droplets of water rolled down her neck and between the valley of her breasts.

He etched every detail of her perfection with unguarded, ocean blue hues, ablaze with a fire that seemed to burn through her entire body.

"Beautiful," he said so softly that she thought she imagined it, and with his other hand, reached over to smooth his thumb across her pouting, bottom lip.

Before she could fully register what was happening, he tilted her chin towards him and leant over the edge of the tub, capturing her lips with a stifled groan of satisfaction.

Gou melted against his mouth, every cell in her body on red-alert as Haru pushed her legs apart with impatience that was quite unlike him.

Her lips parted in an appreciative moan and she let her head fall backwards, exposing her slender throat to his hot, open-mouthed kisses.

She reached for his shirt unconsciously, leaving damp marks where her hands fisted the material, fingernails threatening to tear as Haru moved his kisses the crook of her neck, to the hollow of her collarbone, to the tops of her breasts – all the while his lean, capable fingers teased and intoxicated her.

"Haru,_ please_..." she moaned into his hair and he barely managed to silence his delight.

His hands moved with purpose to give her exactly what she wanted, smoothing over her public bone and sliding south towards the apex of her thighs – brushing over the sensitive bundle of nerves between her legs.

Her hips jerked up in a rhythm that he mimicked with his fingers, and water spilt over the edge of the bathtub with her increasing motion.

A sob escaped and he answered with two fingers slipping deftly inside of her, each sensual invasion intended to produce another, breathless rendition of his name.

He peeked up at her under his eyelashes, pleased to find that her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were in an unfocused daze; her white teeth, biting on her bottom lip and looking so utterly gorgeous that he ached, wanting her so badly it hurt.

Tangling his hand in her hair, he seized her mouth again with a violent, bruising kiss, his fingers moving _faster_ and _deeper _inside of her, until she cried his name and fell apart in his arms.

They were still for a long, timeless moment, faces close, foreheads touching; their breathing, shallow and harsh.

Haru was first to regain his senses, realizing that he had gotten himself soaking wet somehow, whilst Gou was still trembling beside him, still freefalling from the heights that he had taken her.

Finally, she relaxed against the tub and sunk into the now lukewarm water. Haru lay his head on her shoulder and she sighed dreamily, resting her own heavy head against his.

"I am a man obsessed," he murmured into her skin.

Gou smiled weakly.

"With what?" she asked with a dangerous undertone, knowing full well that he would never give her the answer that she wanted. "Water?"

But against all odds, Haru pulled away to look at her, blue eyes regarding her with skepticism, as if it were supposed to be the most obvious answer in the world.

"No," he blinked at her plainly. "With _you_."

* * *

**Authors Note:**

Welcome to my collection of HaruGou one-shots for all the HaruGou fans out there…yes, all three of us! This ship really needs more love :(

I have a lot of fun writing for this couple, so I will be posting my one-shots here and on my blog (see my profile for the link). They will probably be independent drabbles of all lengths and genres. Unfortunately, I haven't had any ideas for a multi-chapter story for this pairing (mainly because it's so non-existent in the series – _SIGH_) so this will have to do for now.

Let me know what you think!

Panda


	2. Sex Appeal

**HaruGou**

**By Confused Panda Bear**

* * *

**Two**

"**Sex Appeal"**

* * *

"Okay!" Nagisa announced with an unshakable enthusiasm. "Let's begin the 'let's figure out why Haru-chan won't have sex with Gou-chan' meeting! Anybody have any thoughts?"

And it was at that _exact_ moment when Gou realized that asking Nagisa for his help on the matter was a _huge_ mistake.

The members of the Iwatobi swim team (minus the man in question, of course) were kneeling around the low table in the clubroom, all in mutual thought.

Three pairs of eyes peered at the girl with curiosity, openly scrutinizing – much to her annoyance – every aspect of her physical appearance and personality, in attempt figure out why exactly their best friend, Nanase Haruka, would be reluctant to 'tap that.'

Rei was first to speak up. "Maybe Haruka-senpai just isn't interested in sex?"

Makoto sent the blue haired boy a warning glance after he noted Gou's crestfallen reaction.

Although Rei had brought up a fair point, his mechanical, insensitive delivery was not what she needed right now.

"What?" Rei immediately defended, misreading Makoto's cautioning. "It makes sense, right? Haruka-senpai doesn't like to do things that he has no interest in. Maybe sex is one of those things?"

"Poor Gou-chan…" Nagisa cooed with unwanted sympathy.

Gou's eye twitched with irritation for more reasons than one.

"For the last time, it's _Kou_!" she snapped, slamming her hands down on the table.

Nagisa didn't even flinch.

_Little shit…_

"Now, now," motherly Makoto appeased, trying desperately to keep them all on the topic at hand. "There's got to be another explanation. Kou needs our help, so lets take this seriously, okay?"

With a final, daggering glare at Nagisa (who answered her with a cheeky 'peace' sign) Gou and the younger duo settled down and assumed their 'thinking positions' (Nagisa scratching his chin, Rei adjusting his glasses, and Gou staring down at the surface of the table in rapidly increasing mortification).

"Now, I am sure Haru must be at least _curious_ about sex – what eighteen year old boy isn't?" Makoto continued thoughtfully. "Although…Haru isn't exactly your 'typical' eighteen year old boy…" he added with a small laugh.

Rei hummed in thought. "How long have you two been dating now?" he asked Gou. "Maybe it's a timing issue."

"Um, s–seven months this Friday…" she answered him, for some reason a little hesitant.

"And you guys haven't done _anything_?" Nagisa pressed shamelessly, providing her the reason why.

The girl flushed, averting her gaze down to her balled fists resting on her thighs.

"Of…of course we've done…stuff…" Gou replied in a mixture of impatience and embarrassment.

It wasn't as if they hadn't done _anything_ at all.

They kissed, they cuddled, and they did a little more than that most of the time – even though everything seemed to remain above the clothes and never below the belt.

It had always confused her because Gou was well aware of the hot-blooded, physical attraction they had for each other, by the way Haru would kiss her, moan into her mouth and grapple at her clothing with an impatience that she matched…

…but, for some reason, it just never seemed to go anywhere from there and she could never figure out why.

Haru would always make some excuse before they could take things further. He wouldn't ever let her take him to the bedroom or stay the night.

And because this was her first 'serious' relationship, Gou had never dealt with such a problem before. She wasn't sure how to bring the topic up with Haru or aware of his opinions of it – if he had any at all.

She heaved a sigh, her small shoulders deflating – not knowing why she had to fall in love with the _one_ guy whose sexual interests were solely reserved for anything that involved water.

Nagisa urged her to elaborate: "what kind of stuff?"

"Uhm…kissing and stuff…" Gou's cheeks flushed pink.

"But how about _stuff_ like…?"

The blonde proceeded to list a vast inventory of foreplay activities that left everyone both intrigued and horrified.

Gou was quick to renounce all of them before the boy went into details.

"N–no, nothing like…_that_!" she waved her hands frantically in front of her.

Nagisa huffed and turned to Rei sitting next to him, crudely remarking in a stage whisper:

"Damn, do you think Haru's balls are as blue as his eyes?"

The red head glowered at him but grudgingly held back a clever retort, letting his comment slide – _for now_.

Gou didn't appreciate that her relationship was seen as somewhat abnormal just because they hadn't gone 'all the way' yet.

Besides the whole 'no sex' thing – she and Haru were like every other couple their age.

They went on dates, out for dinner or to the movies; talked and laughed like good friends, and were silly and sweet with each other as lovers.

For a girl as inexperienced as herself, Gou was, at first, glad that she had a boyfriend who wasn't all about the intimacy.

They had a great relationship outside of it, Haru being a surprisingly caring boyfriend in his 'own' way, which she grew to understand and adore.

"Maybe you just haven't been in the right situation," Rei suggested helpfully. "Have you tried setting the mood?"

Amber eyes blinked innocently back at him.

"Y'know, dim lighting, candles, maybe some mood music or an R-rated movie..." the boy began to list.

The blush on Gou's cheeks deepened as she bashfully remembered that the last film she and Haru had seen together was some childish, animated movie about a talking rat.

"…little things like that let the guy know that you're up for it and get them in the mood too."

Gou's brows furrowed with confusion.

Up until her relationship with Haru, she was under the impression that guys were _always_ in the mood for it.

"And you could always dress a little more…" Nagisa was about to add, but his words trailed off after registering the way Gou was scowling at him.

"…a little more, what?" she dared him to continue.

Nagisa quickly put his hands up in defence.

"I was _actually_ gonna say," he emended immediately, "that your dress sense is great…!"

He teetered nervously at the skeptical look she gave him, a thin eyebrow arching with contempt.

"…but, perhaps you should wear clothes that are a little more…revealing_,_ to capture his attention? Make use your sex appeal, Gou-chan!"

Nagisa completed with a suggestive wink and Gou's face creased with embarrassment.

As annoying as it was to admit, Rei and Nagisa were right.

All this time where she had been waiting for Haru to make the first move, she hadn't considered taking that step herself.

But was she really cut out of it?

She chewed at the inside of her cheek, painfully acknowledging the fact that she was not exactly well versed in the 'art of seduction.'

It wasn't only the thought of her having to somehow sexually entice her boyfriend that terrified her, but rather the possibility of being rejected – something which Gou wasn't sure her dwindling self-confidence could handle.

Easily reading her turmoil in her expression, Makoto was quick to speak up in that calm, assuring way he was so good at.

"If you want my opinion Kou-chan; I think sitting him down and talking to him about this is your best bet," he explained. "Haru isn't really one to take notice of little hints or gestures, and I'm sure he'll appreciate your honesty and willingness to discuss these issues as a couple, rather than dealing with them alone."

He closed with that angelic smile and Gou's eyes softened.

Maybe Makoto-senpai was right – he knew her boyfriend the best out of all of them after all, understanding that Haru was never one to let someone he cares for suffer where he could do something to help.

"Thanks Makoto-senpai," she smiled gratefully. "I think I'll do that. Maybe we–"

"–_Or_!" Nagisa interrupted rudely, clearly not a fan of the 'truthful' and 'honest' approach. "We could do an _experiment_!"

"Eh?" Gou expressed, caught off guard. "An experiment of what?"

"An experiment to figure out where Haru-chan's breaking point is – to seduce him until he gives into his unknown desires!"

Nagisa punched a fist in the air for effect, announcing his plan as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Makoto and Gou regarded him with similar, uneasy expressions on their faces.

"Nagisa, that is the _stupidest_ idea I've ever–!"

"–that sounds like a _great_ idea," Rei chimed in, seemingly on board with the plan without much need for encouragement. "Look at it as a study for science – to greater our understanding of Haruka-senpai's mind!"

An excitable Nagisa leant across the table towards Gou, his face only inches away from hers.

"Neh, Gou-chan, what do you say?"

Beads of sweat formed on the girl's forehead at the way those dark pink hues stared at her in silent persuasion.

Suddenly, Gou knew exactly how it felt to be Rei _all the time, _and why the blue haired boy somehow always ended up in stupid situations with him – now aware of how it felt to be on the receiving end of Nagisa's cute, expectant stare.

Almost against her will, she found herself contemplating the idea.

"I guess we could give it a shot…?" she answered tentatively, and the blond boy yelped in triumph.

Makoto reached out a shaky hand, his gut feeling telling him that all of this was a bad idea.

"Wait, hey – guys –" he stammered, but Nagisa spoke over his attempt to intervene.

"Great! We should start planning!" he said enthusiastically. "Let's go shopping for new clothes on the weekend…!"

"…heh?! But I don't need new clothes…?!"

"…we'll take you to _Victoria's Secret_…"

"…buy scented candles…"

"…eh?!"

Makoto heaved a sigh as he was quickly forgotten amongst his excitable underclassmen.

He could feel the headache coming on already.

Hunching his broad shoulders, the green-eyed boy groaned as he buried his face in his hands.

"Does anyone actually ever listen to me…?"

* * *

**Level 1**

* * *

"Do you think Haruka-senpai is a boob, legs, or ass kind of man…?" Rei pondered out loud.

"…I don't know, maybe she should show off all three just to be sure…?"

"Wait – what!" Gou protested but was promptly ignored.

She shrunk in despair as the boys continued to talk around her as if she had no say in the matter whatsoever.

Makoto scratched at the back of his head.

"Guys, I really don't think this is how we should be dealing with this…" he advised, but the younger blonde quickly waved off his concerns.

"It's fine Mako-chan, I know what I'm doing!"

'Blessed' with three older sisters who had often dressed him up as a girl when he was a child – Nagisa was unsurprisingly knowledgeable in women's clothing and fashion.

After a brief consultation that included a very open discussion about Gou's _cup-size_, it wasn't long before the girl was being forcibly pushed into the clubroom with an armful of clothes, and instructed to change quickly before Haru arrived for practice.

Taking advantage of the warming weather, they had swapped in her usual red tracksuit for a _skimpier_ ensemble.

In the end, Nagisa had decided on a low cut tank top that exhibited an ample amount of cleavage, matched with a fitted red hoodie that pinched at her small waist and running shorts so short that they borderlined underwear.

Gou completed the look with a pair of over-the-knee tube socks and her usual red sneakers.

Straightening up, she twirled in front of the mirror, unsure of how she looked, and not quite knowing how Nagisa had convinced her to do this in the first place.

"I'm done changing," she called from the other side of the door.

She emerged and Nagisa's eyes went starry, evidently pleased with his creation.

"You look great, Gou-chan!"

Makoto glanced over at all the commotion and had to do a double take, covering the lower half of his face to shield an impending nosebleed.

"R–Rin is gonna kills us…" he groaned behind his hands.

"It's okay Mako-chan," Nagisa assured him. "If this works, he'll kill Haru-chan first."

"Wha–?! How is that any better?!"

"Gives us time to run away, of course!"

"Eh?! Nagisa…!"

Gou zoned out of their squabbling and tugged at her shorts self-consciously, noticing the way Rei was glancing her up and down with a hand clasped under his chin.

Given the context of the current situation, his actions may have been misconstrued as perverted – but Gou knew that this wasn't the case – recognizing the look on his face to be similar to when the boy would be reciting equations to himself.

She cleared her throat, promptly snapping him out of his stupor.

"Does it look bad?"

Rei shook his head in dismissal.

"On the contrary, the combination looks great. Nagisa did a fine job in choosing colors that suit your skin tone and hair. The clothes also fit well, and accentuate your best features."

He completed with a nod of conviction.

"I am sure Haruka-senpai will be appreciative," he concluded, and Gou giggled to herself, wondering if Rei had ever complimented a girl before in his life.

"Ah, Haru-chan!" Nagisa called out pointedly, alerting the whole group of his presence.

The dark haired boy entered the swimming pool area and made his way over to the group, already in his usual black and purple swimsuit.

He was seemingly unaware of their expectant eyes, surveying his every move and watching for his reaction carefully.

"Haru," Gou greeted him as he neared.

Haruka blinked at her slowly, the expression on his face betraying nothing as he looked at her with those same, unreadable eyes that did not seem to appreciate her scantily clad attire.

"Are we practicing today or what?" he turned to address Makoto – and everyone was shocked into rigidity by his indifference.

Rei and Nagisa's jaws dropped in unison and Gou bristled with embarrassment, quick to further the conversation in a desperate attempt to move the focus from herself.

"Oh – yes, um," she fumbled for her clipboard. "I thought we'd work on our long distance and–"

"–Haru," Makoto prompted kindly. "Doesn't Kou look pretty today?"

Gou paled as Haruka reluctantly gave her a brief, half-hearted once-over – his glance even more absent than usual this time – as if he wasn't taking in the image of her at all.

Without a word he turned away and pulled his goggles on over his eyes.

She would have been absolutely thwarted, if he hadn't then said:

"What are you talking about? Kou always looks pretty," before launching himself into the pool.

Gou grinned to herself as the water from his dive splashed onto her legs, forgiving him in an instant.

* * *

**Level 2**

* * *

Even before they had become an official couple, Haruka and Gou always spent their Sunday afternoons together.

It had started off as innocent little outings – shopping trips for club supplies and studying together at the library – Haru's lame excuses to see her on the weekends before he gathered up the courage to ask out her on a proper date.

This Sunday was no different – though in the spirit of getting 'laid' – Gou had suggested they stay in and watch a film, rather than head out.

She turned up at his doorstep in another ridiculous outfit that Nagisa and his sisters had put together for her.

It was the kind of thing she would wear to a club rather than a 'movie night' in with her boyfriend, so she was already feeling like a fool before their date had even begun.

To her dismay, Haruka greeted her at the door with that same peck on the cheek, and said nothing of her appearance despite the blatant effort she had put into it for that evening.

He brought her to his living room without another word or glance at her, swiftly occupying himself with his DVD collection.

"Hey Haru, let's watch _Match Point_. I haven't see that in a while," Gou suggested, evidently not going down without a fight.

She had taken Rei's advice in suggesting a more 'adult-themed' film to watch, knowing that the sexual tension between Scarlett Johansson and Jonathon Rhys Meyers was enough to get anyone's blood pumping.

"No water," Haru was quick to dismiss.

Gou lowered the DVD case with disappointment.

She had forgotten that it was Haru's choice this week, not having done much research into sexy, 'water-related' films.

Scanning the shelves once more, her amber eyes mercifully caught the famous cover image of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, and she almost jumped with joy.

"Ah! How about _Titanic_?"

It was quite far into the film, but the steamy 'car sex' scene would be worth it, and Gou was convinced the artist in Haru would appreciate the naked, 'draw-me-like-one-of-your-French-girls' scene as well.

She displayed the case to him encouragingly, but he grimaced and continued to sift through his collection without providing explanation.

It took a moment for her to realize but when she did, Gou slapped her forehead at her own stupidity.

Haru clearly wasn't going to be a fan of water that had **floating dead bodies** in it.

"How about _Blue Lagoon: The Awakening_?" she suggested in a final, desperate attempt to watch something other than the _Free Willy!_ trilogy. "It's about two teenagers stranded on a desert island, so there's lots of water…?"

The film wasn't exactly what Gou had in mind when it came to 'R-rated content,' as the sex scenes were more 'sensual' than 'steamy,' but it seemed to be the best she could do with such limited criteria.

Haru pondered over the cover image for a long time, before reading through the synopsis on the back carefully.

Mercifully, he nodded in acceptance, and Gou's wilted with relief.

"Neh, Haru," she spoke timidly when he returned from the kitchen with their snacks. "Is it okay if we, um…turn the lights down a little?"

Without questioning her request, Haru dimmed the lights low enough so that the ambient glow from the TV set became the brightest in the room.

When Gou was pleased with the 'mood lighting,' he seated himself next to her on the couch and wound an arm around her waist.

Forty-five minutes into the film, Gou was far too busy going crazy with her own thoughts to give a damn whether or not 'Em' and 'Dean' would ever get off the stupid island.

She had spent most of her time praying for strength and psyching herself to pay much attention to the terrible storyline, anyways.

Haru, on the other hand, remained completely oblivious to her anxieties – far too captivated with the tropical rivers and ocean panoramas on the TV screen to notice her restlessness.

Soon enough, the teen actors began kissing under waterfalls and making passionate love on the beach to some corny background music.

Gou wondered if Haru was actually getting turned on by this, or if he was feeling as awkward as she was.

She risked a peek up at him to gauge his reaction, finding his face as stoic and as indifferent as usual.

_Is he really not interested at all?_ she thought to herself, not knowing if she were annoyed or amused.

"H…Haru?" she spoke up, her voice small and hesitant.

"Yes?"

Haru tore his eyes off the screen to look at her, gracing her with one of his rare, handsome smiles, and all of a sudden Gou wanted him so much she didn't care if embarrassed herself in the process.

She tilted her head up to his invitingly, their lips meeting halfway in that sweet, loving kiss they had always shared.

But when Haru moved to retreat, she boldly placed a hand on the back of his neck to keep him in place, and felt his whole body startle when she did.

There was a moment where she thought he would pull away regardless, but to her surprise, he shuddered and deepened the kiss that left her feeling dizzy and almost forgetting what she was meant to be doing.

She pressed into his body, moving all of her sexy angles against him enticingly, the corners of her mouth curling upwards when she was rewarded the slightest moan that emanated from deep in his throat.

Encouraged by his enthusiasm, Gou moved to straddle his lap, her knees sinking into the couch cushions as she lowered herself down onto him.

But before she had even registered it happening, Haru tore away from her in a delayed response, the air in their mouths releasing with an audible hiss.

"K–Kou, uhm…?"

She didn't dare answer him or even breathe, thinking him similar to a timid baby deer that she could easily scare off with any sudden movements.

Keeping her at arms length, Haruka regarded her questioningly, like he had no idea how they had gotten into this situation in the first place.

His eyes lingered on the way that her skirt had ridden up against him; hesitating for a second before allowing his long fingers to trace the tops of her smooth thighs.

His throat flashed as he swallowed with a pained expression on his face, and Gou was a mixture of confused and offended.

Did he not like this?

What was she doing wrong?

In a frantic attempt to recapture the moment, she brashly swooped down onto his lips once more, her tongue darting into his mouth to mimic the way he had kissed her before.

She felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment as Haru's body relaxed under her, kissing her back with just as much force, his strong hands moving from her thighs to the narrow span of her waist.

He brought her against him in a harsh movement, wanting to be as close to her as physically possible; creating a friction between her legs that left her moaning and wanting more.

Gou threw her head back with a gasp, exposing her slender throat to his kisses that peppered along her neck and across her jawline.

His ministrations made their way to her ear, his warm breath fanning over her face as he whispered in a low, sensual, _seductive_ voice:

"Kou. Can you move your head? You're blocking the water."

* * *

**Level 3**

* * *

Gou turned up to practice the following Monday and was greeted with Nagisa whining at her for not wearing today's pre-prepared outfit.

"I'm not wearing any more of your clothes, Nagisa!" she reiterated, ignoring his protests.

The redhead was actually happy to be back in her regular school uniform, as even her mother was beginning to notice and question her recent wardrobe choices.

Nagisa wailed, "aww, why not?"

"Because it's not _working_!" she scolded, and reluctantly filled him in on the failed 'mission' over the weekend.

After their date that Sunday, it seemed as if Gou had only succeeded in pushing Haru further way.

Now, he refused to even _touch_ her – only offering her a parting 'pat on the head' after he had walked her home that evening.

It had been humiliating, to say the very least – and what made things worse was that he was now going out of his way to avoid her at school, two or three times actually running away in the opposite direction whenever he caught sight of her in the halls.

"Kou, I really think you should just speak to Haru about this," Makoto advised in a serious tone. "There must be a reason why he's acting this way–"

"–_clearly_ we need to up our game!" Nagisa's loud voice drowned his before he could finish.

Makoto threw his hands in the air in exasperation, wondering why he even bothered anymore.

"Maybe we're approaching this all wrong," Rei offered logically. "We now know that Haruka-senpai does not care for skimpy clothing or mildly erotic films. The only way to move forward is to find out what he _actually_ likes and go from there."

Although Gou agreed with him, the difficult part about this plan was that Haruka was outwardly indifferent about most things besides swimming.

Nagisa's face lit up in in precipitous enlightenment. "Well, we all know that Haru-chan loves the water, right?"

Everyone looked at the boy skeptically, as if he had stated something as obvious as the sky was blue.

"So, maybe Gou-chan should get…"

(He paused for dramatic effect)

"…_wet_?"

The whole group blanched at his poor choice of words.

"Excuse me?!"

Gou fingers twitched by her sides, half ready to wrap them around his throat.

"Nagisa, was that really necessary?!" Makoto scolded.

The blonde haired boy quickly put his hands up in surrender.

"Calm down, perverts – I didn't mean in _that _way!" he said, and everyone blushed at their own dirty assumptions.

"Oh…"

"I meant that Gou-chan, as _manager_ of the _swim_ team," Nagisa expressed his key words pointedly, "should get in the _pool_ every once in a while! I'm sure Haru-chan will like it!"

To illustrate his point, he drew up a silly diagram on a piece of paper from her clipboard that read:

_ "Gou-chan + Water = Sexy water time squared__!"_

Rei peered at the equation for a long time, quirking an eyebrow.

"Why is it _squared_…?" he asked – that being the only concern he had with the plan – and Gou dragged a frustrated palm down her face.

"Ah, Haru-chan!" Nagisa's eyes caught a glimpse of young man through the fence.

He quickly turned to the red-haired girl with an urgent hiss.

"Gou-chan, Haru's coming – get in the pool!"

"No!" Gou determinedly stood her ground. "I don't have a bathing suit on me right now–"

"–you don't need one, just get in the pool–"

"–Nagisa, I'm telling you, I'm not getting in the pool–!"

"–BITCH, GET IN THE POOL!"

Haru arrived just in time to see Nagisa shove his girlfriend roughly by the shoulders, and watch her trip and fall backwards into water with a blood-curling scream.

In no time, he was out of his school uniform and diving in after her, like some kind of swimming suit superhero.

Unlike Haru who always somehow seemed to emerge from the water with a majestic flourish, Gou resurfaced, coughing and spluttering, her hair in a damp mess, sticking onto her face and neck.

"Nagisa, what was that all about?!" Haru demanded as he hoisted his shivering girlfriend out onto the side of the pool.

The young blonde shrugged innocently. "Not sure, Haru-chan, she must have slipped?"

"I _saw_ you _push_ her!"

"Wah? No I didn't, Haru-chan!"

Unable to deal with a stubborn Nagisa right then, Haru reverted his attention to his soaked girlfriend.

"Kou, are you–?" he began, but staggered midsentence.

The girl had picked herself up off the floor and peeled off her school jacket, wringing the drenched the material in her hands.

"Yeah," she answered his unfinished question with a forced smile. "I…I'm just a little…wet…"

As Nagisa had anticipated – the rest of Gou's damp clothing clung onto every curve of her body, flaunting the ample rounding of her chest and accentuating the smooth slops of abdomen.

Her lace bra was visible through her now transparent white blouse, and her skirt hung off her hips and hugged at her thighs.

When she moved, droplets of water flew off of her.

Haru followed the glistening beads as they rolled down her long, flawless legs.

Three pairs of eyes stared between the couple like they were watching a tennis match, eagerly awaiting their friend's pending reaction.

"M–Makoto, can you…help Kou please?" came Haru's stammered request, rendering them all speechless.

The brown haired boy hesitated. "Huh? Haru, don't you think you should be the one–?"

Narrowed blue eyes cut him off with a severe look that only Makoto could comprehend, and he nodded understandingly, quickly springing into action.

"Come on Kou-chan, let's get you a towel before you catch a cold…"

Gou sent longing stare at Haru's back before following Makoto to clubroom, and leaving Nagisa's sulking after her departure on her behalf.

"Haru-ch_aaaa_n, why didn't you help Gou?" he asked, clinging onto him pleadingly.

Haru averted his gaze to hide his face under his bangs, and tugged his arm from Nagisa's grasp.

"Too much effort," he responded shortly, and the younger boy let out a frustrated wail, burying his face into his shoulder.

* * *

**Level 4**

* * *

Gou was assured that she did in fact have _some_ kind of 'sex appeal,' when she was able to arrange another joint practice with the Samezuka swim team later on that week.

The boys always looked forward to joint practices, because they got to swim with her brother and use the schools indoor pool, which was far larger and warmer than their own.

It never took their captain, Seijuro Mikoshiba, much persuading on Gou's part, due to his very obvious infatuation with her. They were always welcome to practice at Samezuka – under the condition that _she_ would be attending too.

"Gou-kun! Over here!" Mikoshiba greeted her with an exaggerated wave and the girl exhaled in annoyance.

"I thought I told him to stop calling me that…" she murmured under her breath, but training her expression into a pleasant smile as he approached. "Seijuro-senpai, thank you for having us again…"

"It's no problem at all! You're looking super cute today, Gou-kun, have you done something with your hair…?"

As their manager became quickly occupied in a discussion that definitely had nothing to do with swimming, the Iwatobi boys made their way to the changing rooms to get ready.

"Is something the matter, Haru?" Makoto asked out of the blue, sensing some hostility in the way the boy had slammed his locker door shut.

"That guy won't back off," Haru bit out sourly.

He stormed off towards the pool without further explanation, leaving his teammates staring after him; astonished expressions adorned their faces.

Rei cleared his throat, "whoa…I never had Haruka-senpai down as the jealous type."

"I guess Haru's always been protective of things that he cherishes," Makoto explained without thinking.

With that information, a theoretical light bulb flashed above Nagisa's head.

"Is that so?" the younger boy pondered out loud. "Perhaps we could use this to our advantage…?"

"Eh?" Makoto expressed, before arriving to a belated realization. "Wait, you're not suggesting we–"

He caught the way Nagisa sent Rei an allusive glance and was gripped with a sudden terrible feeling.

"–Nagisa! Rei! Wait, don't–!" Makoto called out desperately, but the two boys were already up and out of the changing room before he was adequately dressed to follow.

"You want me to _what_ now?!" Gou's voice went high with incredulity.

Rei raised his hand to fix his glasses.

"We want to try to illicit Haruka-senpai's more _primal_ responses – to bring out the territorial male inside of him," he explained mechanically. "We believe it may make him realize that you are an attractive and desirable female to others, and will want to mate with you before anyone else does."

Gou regarded him with a gaping mouth – not sure if the guy was actually being for real.

"And to do that, we propose that you fraternize with other, potential male partners in front of him," Nagisa continued, somehow adopting Rei's form of speech to near perfection.

The girl blinked at him, misunderstanding.

"Y'know, make him jealous!" he clarified, and she tugged at her hair in exasperation.

"Where did you get this from, the _Discovery Channel_?" Gou retorted angrily. "What do you think he'll do? Beat at his chest, throw me over his shoulder and take me back to his _cave_?"

Rei considered her words carefully, before nodding in approval.

"That is what we are hoping," he confirmed and Gou's entire body sagged in exacerbation.

"Come on Gou-chan, it wouldn't hurt to try?"

Their discussion was cut short by a loud, echoing whistle that indicated that the two teams were to begin their warm up laps around the pool.

The boys sprung into attendance and made their way towards the starting blocks, with Gou dragging her feet to follow them.

"Ah, Gou-kun, about today's practice," Mikoshiba hailed her over to him. "I was thinking of having Nanase-kun and Tachibana-kun run drills with our second years today. As for Hazuki-kun and…"

"…S–sounds good," she managed to respond, unable to ignore Rei and Nagisa lingering behind him, sending her encouraging smiles and approving 'thumbs up's.'

She resisted the urge to shake her fist at them.

Of all of their plans so far, this was the one she disapproved of the most – primarily because she didn't think it was right to manipulate her boyfriend in such a way, and secondly because 'flirting' didn't come as easily to her as one would have hoped.

"Neh, uh – Seijuro-senpai," Gou began, awkwardly seeking the young man's attention just as he was turning to leave.

The redhead faltered mid-step, his eyebrows rising on his forehead in surprise.

"Um, I was just wondering," she spoke, swallowing the rebellious lump in her throat. "H–have you been…uh, working out?"

Gou immediately felt terrible as she watched Mikoshiba's whole face light up at her forced words.

"Yes! I'm so glad you noticed!" he expressed, the atmosphere around him literally glittering. "I've been trying out this new regimen I read about in this months _Monthly Muscle Magazine_!"

"Oh, I read that too!" Gou exclaimed before she could stop herself. She cleared her throat for recovery. "For the…diet plans, of course…"

He flashed her a toothy smile and leant against the tiled wall coolly, crossing his arms over his broad chest in display of his finely formed biceps.

"Do you want a feel?" he said, and flexed his arm invitingly.

Gou paled, not exactly eager to, but at the same time, not wanting to be rude.

"I, um…sure…?" she said, gingerly placing her hand on his taut, bronzed skin. Her fingers squeezed lightly and she gasped despite herself. "Wow, they're really firm!"

The smile on Mikoshiba's face widened, basking in her approval.

"I know, right?!"

Haru resurfaced from his laps just in time to see Kou chatting, rather animatedly, to the red-haired captain about something he couldn't quite make out from where he was floating.

His eyes narrowed with the sound of her melodic laugh at whatever the _hell_ he was saying that happened to be so _damn_ funny, further nothing the way she was eyeing up her deltoids like they were her dinner.

But what really sent him over the edge was when Mikoshiba reached out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind his girlfriend's ear, the simple, intimate action enough to make his vision turn red.

Frowning, Haru turned to swim another length to blow off some steam, his stroke cutting the waters surface with a severity that only Makoto picked up on.

* * *

**Level 5**

* * *

Haru pushed through the crowd of excitable students with marked irritation, wanting nothing more but to get into the pool and swim after the difficult week he just had.

He was in a particularly foul mood lately, and had been since their joint practice at Samezuka – the reason for his stress, predominantly due to his girlfriend's recent unexplainable behavior, which had him bewildered and on the edge for days.

"_Move_," he snapped – as polite as ever – at short boy who was standing in the way of him and the entrance to the pool.

Too occupied with his thoughts on Kou, Haru had not even contemplated why there was such a large crowd of male students congregating the area in the first place.

To his knowledge, today was just a normal afternoon session of practice, where they would run drills and hold time trails in preparation for the next prefectural tournament; nothing particularly special that warranted an audience at all.

Pushing through the last of the crowd, the reason became clear to him when he finally caught sight of what they were all staring at.

And when he did, he let his bag slip from his shoulder and drop to the floor – along with his jaw.

"K–Kou…?!"

His girlfriend stood by the side of the pool like she usually did, with her red hair tied away from her pretty face, a stopwatch in her hand and a whistle between her lips.

She was barking orders as normal, shouting encouragements at Rei and scolding Nagisa for goofing around when he was meant to be improving his time.

It was Kou as he'd always known her – always his beautiful motivation – but there was something _very_ different about her today, and he would've been blind to have missed it.

"Ah, Haru-chan!" Nagisa called from the side of the pool, finally noticing his arrival. "Ama-chan took Gou-chan bikini shopping yesterday! Doesn't she look _nice_?"

His throat contracted unpleasantly instead of working to produce a response.

So, that explains it…

"Hey, Haru!" Kou then waved, acting as if nothing was amiss at all.

He let mouth hang open, his vision going into slow motion as his under-clothed girlfriend walked (sauntered, more like) over to greet him.

Kou had a great body – the kind where you could tell even when she had clothes on – and the kind that that could easily attract a crowd of admirers when she _didn't_.

For reasons that he could not possibly understand why, she was sporting a skimpy red and white bikini that consisted of barely enough material to adequately cover her perfectly rounded breasts.

Her tight butt was teasingly concealed by bikini bottoms held together at her hips by strings fashioned into bows – just _waiting_ for his fingers to untie them.

Saying that she merely looked _'nice'_ was perhaps the biggest understatement of the century.

Before Haru had properly registered it, Kou was in front of him and far too close for comfort, blinking up at him with those innocent amber eyes.

She titled her head and asked: "what's wrong, Haruka-_senpai_?" in a cute voice that made him swear to fucking _water-sama_ that she was doing it on purpose.

"I…what…?"

Tension thrummed in the air and Gou found herself fidgeting under his relentless gaze.

Even with all those boys behind the fence leering at her so openly, the way Haruka stared at her with those ocean blue hues left her trembling under their intensity.

His fingers flinched towards his tie the way he did when he would strip to get into water, and time stood still.

"Kou," Haru finally managed, forcing his hand to lower back down to his side. "What…are you–?"

"–Looking good, Matsuoka!" he was cut off by a voice that jeered from behind them, promptly snapping them out of their trance.

"Hey Matsuoka! If Nanase can't satisfy you, I'll gladly step up to the challenge!"

There was a roar of laughter amongst the boys and Gou ducked her head in shame.

Because of her gossipy girlfriends, it seemed as if the whole school was now aware of her 'lack' of sex life.

"If you want it so badly, I'll be happy to show you what you've been missing!"

"Trust me, babe, anything Nanase can do, I can do better!" another voice mocked, which was apparently the final straw for Haru.

Grabbing her by the wrist, he dragged her out of their view and stumbling after him. His grip on her was so tight that she thought it would bruise, so far beyond pissed off that he did not even care that he might be hurting her.

The door of the clubroom slammed against its hinges and Haru pushed her through it unceremoniously, determined to remove her from the eyes of every single guy in the vicinity.

He shut the door behind them securely and rested his back against it, before sliding down on to the floor with his head in his hands.

"Why are you _doing_ this to me?" he groaned like a man in torment.

Gou was unprepared for his words and unprepared for the way he then glared at her with barefaced resentment.

"W–what do you mean, Haru?" she asked, trying to appear aloof.

His voice was raked with impatience as he straightened up to face her.

In seconds, he transformed from the crumpled young man on the floor into five foot nine inches of abrasively masculine male.

His handsome features hardened attractively and his gaze never left her for a second, making her feel both curious and uneasy.

"I know what you're tying to do," he muttered darkly.

The blood in her veins ran cold.

"You…do?"

"_Yes_! I knew from the beginning!" Haru exploded uncharacteristically.

"Y–you did…?" her voice trembled.

"Of course! Do you think I'm stupid?!" he dragged a stressed hand through his dark hair. "You thought I didn't notice the way you've been acting around me and how you've started dressing? And the other day, how you were flirting with Mikoshiba to make me jealous…?!"

The girl opened her mouth to speak but no words seemed to come out – not because she couldn't, but because she literally had nothing to say in her defense.

"…and you don't even _need_ to tell me that you asked Nagisa for help with all of this! What on earth were you thinking – seeking help from _Nagisa_?! He tried to _drown_ you, for gods sake! I swear that kid is secretly trying to kill us all…"

Gou swallowed the lump in her throat. "H–Haru, I'm so…"

Her apology came out as a stammered and unintelligible attempt at explaining herself.

For the first time, Gou was honest with her insecurities. She never understood why he refused to take things further with her, which led her to conclude that she just wasn't attractive or desirable enough for him.

She tried to make him understand how desperate things had gotten for her that lead her to asking even Nagisa for his help, explaining that her new clothes and her strange behavior were just poorly executed attempts at seducing him.

She admitted that she was wrong to try and manipulate him in such a way, but she didn't know what else she could do.

It hurt her that Haru knew all along and never said a word about it, letting her make a fool out of herself at every turn.

He had known all this time, and _still_ didn't want her.

Finally, with a reddened face, Gou expressed that she really did love him – but was beginning to doubt that he returned those feelings for her at all.

"And I wasn't flirting with Seijuro-senpai, I swear," she blathered frantically. "We were just talking about muscles in a purely plutonic way–!"

"–Kou."

Haru cut her off and her mouth snapped shut immediately.

He had listened to her ridiculous speech as best he could without interrupting, and was only unable to hear much more after she had voiced her concerns about his feelings.

"Is that what you really think?" he spoke, his tone providing no insight as to what he felt about her sudden outburst. "That, because I won't _sleep_ with you, I don't love you…?"

She hesitated before nodding unsurely, and Haru pinched at the bridge of his nose.

"I _do_ love you, Matsuoka – but you are a pain sometimes…"

Gou had to catch a gasp in between her teeth.

It was the first time Haru had ever said those words to her, and although they hadn't come about quite as romantic as she had hoped, her stomach still lurched and her insides melted all the same.

"…and you couldn't be more wrong about all of that. You don't know what you've been _doing_ to me," he murmured thickly. "You have no idea how much I want to just…"

His sentence trailed off and he looked at her then, with a lethal stare that drew shivers up and down her spine.

He advanced towards her, his stance predatory. For every step he took, Gou took one backwards until her naked back collided with the wall of lockers.

She squeaked in surprise, her skin prickling in reaction to Haru's eyes shamelessly drinking in her the image of her entire unclothed body.

"This is what you want, right?" he demanded. "Me, like this?"

She didn't dare answer him.

He was towering over her intimidatingly; a powerful hand panted at either side of her head and suddenly, he was larger than life, her whole body quivering under his mercy.

"You want it?" his voice throaty and filled with need. "Right here, right now?"

And she could have _died_ right then.

Gou was sure her heart had stopped beating in her chest.

She was screaming internally: _Yes, yes – for the love of god, YES!_ but of course, she was too stunned to produce any sort of reply in her state.

"You know what?" Haru breathed against her cheek. "You don't have a choice…"

And finally seized her lips with a kiss that ripped the air from her lungs.

Haru pressed his restless body into hers, his mouth, harsh and demanding, like he wanted to channel his frustrations into her – so that she could feel his desire and understand the suffering that he could not put into words.

Gou kissed him back with everything she had, her arms curving compulsively around his shoulders, clinging onto him for dear life. She whimpered slightly, hating their height difference because it prevented her from getting as close as she wanted them to be.

Responding to her unspoken request, Haru nudged a knee between her thighs and hoisted her up against the lockers, her back slamming against the cold metal with a muffled cry of surprise.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and he rolled his hips against her, his mouth swallowing the sounds of her moans. Large hands roamed freely over every curve of her; loving the feeling of her bare skin and wanting nothing more but to feel it against his own.

Gou was writhing against him, hips jerking at his touch, her movements like absolute torture that Haru doubted he could hold her up like that for much longer.

She made a sort of complaining noise when he pulled away to ease her carefully onto the clubroom floor.

He silenced her protests with a kiss as promise to give her what she wanted in due time.

"Ha…Haru…" she breathed and his nails speared into her thighs.

"Open your legs."

She hesitated for a half-second too long that he parted them himself with impatient hands.

He shifted sinuously between them, his lean fingers sweeping down the curve of her waist and raising goosebumps on her skin.

He groaned in a strange fusion of appreciation and anguished conflict.

How could she have ever thought that he didn't _want_ her, when all he ever did was think of her and this moment, for months on end?

His lips traced along her delicate jaw, raining kisses down the column of her neck, and Gou was seeing stars behind her eyelids. She arched her back off the floor in a desperate plea to be _closer_ and Haru barely managed to silence his moan when she rubbed against him accidentally.

He grit his teeth, knowing that he was rapidly losing his mind, losing all self-control.

Their first time wasn't going to be the slow, gentle seduction that he had hoped for her – but instead, a tangle of writhing limbs and impatient hands, in which her bikini was torn from her body, rather than carefully removed.

She was naked in seconds and his mouth was already working to mark the newly exposed skin red and purple with his kisses.

_You're mine, _he thought before claiming her lips again with intent to consume.

Gou moaned with restlessness unknown to her. She thought it unfair that she was naked whilst Haru remained fully clothed, and boldly tugged at his shirt to untuck it from his pants.

Haru took no time in ripping it over his head and throwing it aside in that impressive way that he did, and she stared up at him in awe.

She took in the swell of his shoulders, the deep indentations of his abs – so distracted by his magnificence that she momentarily disregarded the embarrassment of her own nudity.

Wanting to see more, she helped him with the rest of his clothes, fumbling with the clasp of his belt and the buttons of his pants, neither of them sure if it were his or her hands to finish the task.

Soon there was nothing left between them but his black and purple swimming trunks, the skin-tight material doing nothing to help hide yet _another_ impressive muscle, which Gou found herself gaping at all the same.

That thing…was to somehow fit _inside_ of her?

She chewed at her bottom lip with concern.

Gou knew that her first time would hurt, but she had never really given it much thought until now.

Reading the hesitance in her face, Haru held her jaw with a warm hand and offered her a gentle and soothing kiss that eased her nerves.

He would make her relax, make her feel good, he promised himself, and he would make her _want_ it – _beg_ for it.

Devouring her mouth with the heat of his own, Haru crushed his hips into hers, Gou's fingers tangling in his hair at the feel of his hardened length nudging against her.

An unbearable heat flared between her thighs that left her breathless with her own volition.

As if he could read her mind, Haru's reached down between them, lavishing the peaks and slopes of her entire body, until his hands rested between her legs to trace her wetness with his long, dexterous fingers.

Gou moaned helplessly, hips jerking to a rhythm she didn't know as two digits slipped and curled inside of her with surprising ease.

Her back and shoulder blades pressed into the floor as he pumped his fingers in and out of her, losing all reasoning when Haru brought his head down on to the delicate mounds of her chest, his lips burning and teeth grazing on her skin.

His head shifted further downwards, dipping his tongue into the shallow indentation of her navel and ghosting over her hipbone – until his mouth was down _there_ and her vision turned white at the edges.

The lights and colors of the room blurred into one and the sound of his name echoed louder with every skilful caress of his tongue.

At that very moment, there was no one else in the world but she and Haru.

She was robbed of all thought and feeling, where nothing mattered to her beyond the aching need for _more –_ the aching need for _him_.

Gou's hands were reaching out blindly, frantically.

Haru lifted himself up to meet her, his mouth finding hers and she tasted herself on his lips.

"Please, Haru…don't…make me wait…"

He pulled back sharply to look at her, his expressive blue eyes asking one last time if she was really ready for this.

She answered him with another feverish kiss and he literally sighed with relief, chills running down his spine as Gou's dainty fingers latched onto the elastic waistband of his swimming trunks.

She tugged at them urgently and he made a strangled noise from the back of his throat.

His eyes fused shut and his mouth was slick and parted with the remnants of a moan, and it was simply the best expression she had ever seen on his handsome face.

Never in wildest dreams would she have thought that she could elicit such a response from him, that he would have ever wanted her in this way, let alone wanted her _this_ much.

Invigorated by her newfound confidence, Gou daringly curled her fingers around the bulging shape of him through his trunks, delighting in his sharp intake of breath when she did.

He rolled his hips into her touch, and moaned:

"…_Rin_…"

…

It took Gou a short moment to realize what he had said…

…another to process…

…and one more for her whole body to turn into a rigid, outraged pillow of rejection.

"W–what the hell did you just say?!"

Haru's eyes snapped open at her eruption.

He pulled away from her in shock.

"Shit!" it was the first time she'd ever heard him curse. "_Rin_!"

Absolutely disgusted, Gou slid out from underneath him, vehemently pushing away the hands that tried to stop her, her own scrambling to find something to cover herself back up.

"I knew it!" she yelled irrationally – maybe at herself, maybe at him – she didn't know right now. "I _knew_ it! You're gay for my brother!"

Her sudden outburst caused Haru to come out of his daze, completely at a loss by her words.

"What?! Kou, where the _hell_ did you get that from–?!"

"–I should have listened to what everyone said about you!" her nonsensical rant continued. "They said you were too good looking to be straight–"

"–Kou–"

"–and that you've always been weirdly _obsessed_ with swimming with Rin–"

"–Kou, please–"

"–this is _so_ humiliating, my _boyfriend_ wants my _brothers_ dick–!"

"–Kou!" he shouted over her impatiently. "Will you be quiet for a second?!"

Haru had never raised his voice at her or anyone, as far as she had known, and the surprise of that alone silenced her instantaneously.

The boy rubbed a hand over his face and wrenched his fingers through his hair, inwardly berating himself for ruining such a perfect moment with his honorable conscience.

He sighed heavily.

There was no way round it now; he would have to tell her the truth.

"Look," Haru explained, his voice calming to a neutral. "The whole reason why I haven't taken things further with you before was, well…_because_ of Rin."

Gou's eyes widened. "What about onii-chan?"

"It happened about a month into our relationship…"

Though the two had reconciled after regionals – the moment Rin found out that Haru was dating his precious baby sister, he turned up at Iwatobi school in a rage and ready for another one of their manly, tension filled confrontations that never seemed to end well.

Haru walked out of campus that day to find the red-haired teen leaning against the fence outside, lurking the shadows of a large cherry blossom tree and looking all sinister.

Rin greeted him with a serious:

"_Nanase, we need to talk._"

And did whole snapping thing he did with his baseball cap.

Haru knew in an instant that shit was about to go down.

"…Rin gave me the 'older brother' talk. He…told me not to tell you because he knew you'd give him a hard time about it," Haru swallowed hesitantly. "At first I didn't mind, I was even expecting it, but…"

His voice trailed off, looking as if he were in pain reliving the memory.

"But then he said…"

"_I swear to god, Nanase, if you lay just _one_ finger on her unclothed body, I will make it my personal mission to…"_

"…he said he'd kill me."

"What?!" Gou spluttered eloquently.

It was then Haru's turn to rant irrationally, completely inconsolable as he vented months and months of pent up fear, talking more than he had ever done in his entire life.

"–he said if I ever touched you, he'd kill me and dispense of my body in the ocean, so that he could laugh at my lifeless corpse floating in the water and bask in the irony of it all–"

"–wait a second, _what_?!"

"After that, whenever we made out, all I could ever think about was: 'Rin has a gun'–"

"–Onii-chan has a gun–?!"

"–he said he'd seen some shit in Australia and he wasn't afraid to–"

"–Haru, listen to me–"

"–weird, pointy teeth–"

"–Haru–"

"–I just want to be _free_–"

"–HARU!"

Gou's loud voice drowned out his and reverberated through the room.

They stared dumbly at each other for a long while, neither of them knowing whether to laugh hysterically or cry with frustration.

Gou noticed that all this talk about her homicidal brother was making something very important of Haru's wilt and soften rapidly, and she felt like doing the latter.

"Haru, listen to me," she pleaded, holding his face in her hands. "You can't let this get to you. My brother doesn't always know what's best for me."

He let head lean into her and kissed her palms lovingly, clearly still conflicted in spite of her encouragement.

"But he's your brother, he's my friend, I can't–"

Gou cut him off with a gentle kiss, reveling in the tremor it aroused in him when she did.

She spread her hands over his shoulders, the taut planes of his stomach and chest, relieving the tension in them; his self-restraint slowly vanishing under her whimsical touch.

"We love each other, so why does it matter? I want it and so do you…so just…_please_…"

Haru couldn't think straight – maybe because of all his blood was draining from his head and rushing back down _there – _unable to recall a single thing he wouldn't trade to give her what she wanted, to give her everything he had.

"I love you," was all he could say. "I love you so much."

Unwilling to waste another moment, Haru brought his mouth swooping down onto hers with an explosive passion that knocked her backwards.

He peeled off his swimsuit and threw it on the pile with the rest of his discarded clothes. Cautiously, he introduced the length of him against her – rubbing and teasing along the sensitive spot between her legs.

He was hot, hard and as smooth as silk, and she was shattered by just how _good_ he felt.

She wasn't scared anymore.

Instead, the feeling of him instilled a sense of wholeness and security she couldn't even begin to explain.

His mouth and hands worked on massaging away the last of her uncertainty before he shifted his weight to ease the tip of himself inside her, watching her face the entire time.

God, she was _beautiful_, he thought, committing to memory the image of her at that moment, lying beneath him and entirely his.

Haru pushed through her resistance with a throaty moan and his eyes rolled back into their sockets.

He had denied himself of her for so long, and yet the feeling still surpassed the anticipation.

Gou could see that his whole upper body was trembling, wanting nothing more but to slam into her regardless of her needs, disciplined only by her fingernails threatening to draw blood from his shoulders.

"Relax," he instructed with ragged intonation and kissed her until she loosened her grip.

Hating that he hurt her, Haru contended with slow, shallow movements at first, which were good for Kou but did nothing to help his crumbling self-restraint.

Oblivious to his turmoil, Gou bit her bottom lip and raised her hips to meet his thrust, and he actually _swore at her_ under his breath.

"Areyoufuckingkiddingme?!"

She sent him a questioning look. "Haru…?"

He looked at her apologetically, chest heaving.

"Does it…still hurt?" he breathed out, dark locks of hair hanging around his face.

She shook her head and he wasn't sure if he believed her.

Experimentally, he pushed a little deeper and she threw her head back with an enchanting cry of his name.

The pain that Gou had been preparing for was nothing but a passing stab of discomfort, shortly replaced unbearable need that burned through her entire body.

She begged, _pleaded_ at him for more and couldn't wait to give it to her.

Ignoring every cautioning thought in his mind, Haru grabbed at her hips and hammered into her arching frame with a powerful thrust that shook her whole body.

He let himself venture deeper into her, his mouth shaped with the single syllable of her name, and Gou is taken aback by how aroused she was by the strength of his desire for her.

She pressed her lips together to suppress the sound of her own moans, wanting to hear him better.

"Don't," Haru caught on immediately. "Don't you dare hold back…"

His pace increased, pounding into her faster in sweet punishment until she was sure that everyone outside knew his first name.

Their eyes met in the midst of their movements, and while Gou fought to keep hers open, Haru was watching her intently, studying her changing expressions, those brilliant, blue hues all the more mesmerizing up close.

She locked her legs around his waist receptively and watched them disappear behind his eyelids as he eventually gave in and lost himself inside of her.

Haru brought his mouth to her ear, a little humor seeping into his tone:

"I'm gay for your brother, huh?"

Gou was so overtaken by the new sensation that she almost didn't hear him.

When her brain finally decoded his words, she looked up at him with a incredulous expression, wondering why the _hell_ he was bringing _that_ up now, of all times.

But before she had opened her mouth to speak, Haru had grabbed a fistful of her hair almost painfully, and tilted her head up towards his.

"I'll show you _gay_."

And crushed his mouth against hers.

Pinning her wrists above her head, Haru drove himself into her so thoroughly that she went out of her mind with sheer, splintering pleasure.

She wanted him harder, faster, _deeper_, not knowing that she had voiced her wishes out loud until Haru skillfully matched her every request, pounding into her unceasingly until she was sobbing with satisfaction in his arms.

He collapsed on top of her, their chests flattened against one another; his solid, hard muscle heaving on top of her soft, pliable flesh – hearts hammering against their ribcages at an identical rapid pace.

With the last of his energy, Haru lifted himself up off of her to lowered his mouth onto hers, extracting from her a languorous kiss that she could barely reciprocate.

Their breathing slowed and their vision cleared as they began their spectacular decent back down to earth.

Wanting to hang onto heaven for just a little longer, Gou squeezed her walls around the length that was still inside of her and Haru raised his head with some effort, the look he sent her both stern and amused.

"Would you at least let me catch my breath?" his voice mingled with wry humor, but there was nothing he could do about the manic smile on his face that Gou was sure she mirrored on her own.

They lay like that for an immaterial length of time, in comfortable, content silence, basking in each other's ecstasy.

"I'm sorry," Haru was first to speak, murmuring his apology into her bangs.

Gou regarded him curiously, unable to think of anything that he needed to apologize for.

"For what?"

"For not doing that sooner."

He nuzzled his nose into her neck with a satisfying groan to further authenticate his point.

The corners of her lips curved into a smile.

Perhaps he did have _that_ for apologize for after all.

"I forgive you," Gou couldn't help but tease. "But it was worth the wait."

Haru lifted his head to arch an eyebrow at her. "Worth the stripper get-up and getting thrown into the pool by Nagisa?"

"Yes – barely," she laughed, now acknowledging the silliness of her actions. She moved her fingers to push his damp locks away from his face. "Did you enjoy it, at least?"

"I did," Haru replied with the obvious answer, his voice unusually whimsical.

Gou watched as he let his fingers travel lazily down her neck and between her breasts, tracing the pattern of the reddened marks that he had left on her skin, evidently pleased with his handiwork.

"I _really_ did."

He stirred inside of her, telling her without words that he was not quite done with her _just_ yet; as he glanced up with hooded eyes and said:

"I think I have a new favorite activity besides swimming."

* * *

**Authors Note:**

Thank you to everyone who left reviews, favorite'd and followed, I really wasn't expecting such a positive response! :) This chapter is out later than expected because I've been in and out of hospital lately. I hope you guys can forgive me for the wait!

Let me know what you think – this turned out to be super long and very silly. And I'm sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes, I haven't got myself a beta reader for this yet.

Until next time,

Panda

**Disclaimer:** This chapter was inspired by episode 4 of the anime, the Free! Drama CDs, the short movie 'FrFr 1: Makoto's Trouble,' and finally, the popular YouTube spoof: _50% off_!

* * *

**!Bonus Scene!**

* * *

Gou watched as Haru pulled on his crumpled clothing with a little envy, as her own were in her duffle bag outside by pool. He had straightened up from tying his shoes, and with one look at Gou in that blasted red bikini again, he moved to shrug off his school jacket.

"As much as I appreciate you in swimwear, please go back to wearing your tracksuit to practice," he requested seriously. "Your body is so distracting, I'm worried that I'll forget how to swim."

He draped the garment over her small shoulders and pulled it around her, pleased that the single item of clothing was large enough to cover her back up to decency.

Gou's face split into a smile, not only because of the compliment but also because the thought of Haru being unable swim was a ridiculous notion in itself.

But before she could open her mouth to respond, something in the inside pocket of his jacket bleeped and she almost jumped with surprise, forgetting what she was about to say.

"You actually have your cell phone on you today?" she commented, amused.

She had tried to ignore it at first, it was none of her business, but the thing seemed to be going off incessantly.

Reasoning that whatever the caller had to say was probably something urgent, Gou reached into the pocket to answer it. By the time she had located the blue phone and flipped it open, four missed calls, one voicemail and six text messages blinked up at her on the screen.

"I didn't know you were so popular, Haru!" she teased and her boyfriend frowned, finding that a little odd.

Besides the occasional text to Makoto or Kou, his cell phone was only ever used to receive calls from his parents.

"Who are they from?"

Haru watched as Gou fiddled with the device, scrolling down his entire inbox, even checking his emails and call history – her eyes gradually narrowing into slits.

"_Nagisa_."

Haru at her inquiringly. "Who else?"

"No one else," Gou snapped the phone shut so violently that he thought it would snap in her hand. "They're _all_ from Nagisa."

* * *

**From: **Hazuki Nagisa **  
To: **Nanase Haruka  
**Subject: **Congrats on the sex!

That's my boy! ;)


	3. In His Eyes

**HaruGou**

**By Confused Panda Bear**

* * *

**Three**

"**In His Eyes"**

* * *

_Mackerel. _

_Mackerel. _

_I love mackerel. _

And _water_ – yes let's think about water.

_Water. _

_Swimming in the water. _

_Swimming pool. _

_Kou in the swimming pool…_

_Kou all wet in the swimming pool – _NO!

_Mackerelmackerelmackerelmackerelmackerelmackerel_–

"–Uh...Haru, are you okay?" Makoto impedes my train of thought, and I startle slightly, unpleasant tremors working their way through every bone of my spine.

"Yeah," I turn my head away just in time, schooling my expression to a neutral. "Why?"

His voice is mixed with baffled humor.

"Because you were furiously thinking about mackerel!" he teased, and I have to grip at the strap of my bag to steel myself.

"No I wasn't."

Thankfully, he laughs and drops the subject, seemingly brushing it aside without suspecting a thing.

I'm almost insulted.

Does he really think I'm that simple?

He sends me an amused sideways glance, an eyebrow rising in nonplus, and my brain clambers to think about something else.

_Mackerel. _

_Mackerel, mackerel, mackerel._

My head hurts.

"Thanks for coming along, by the way," he spoke after a brief stretch of comfortable silence.

"It's nothing," I reply dismissively, continuing to act as if I'm doing him a favor of some sort.

He smiles at me and I swallow.

Again, he doesn't suspect a thing.

He trusts me more than he should.

It wasn't long before we arrived at the towns train station, and I find myself obsessively thinking about swimming in attempt to conceal how unexpectedly excited I am.

Kou's been away for over three weeks visiting grandparents who live on the other side of the country, so this was the first time I was going to see her since school broke up for the summer.

The train pulls in, the passengers filing out all at once, and I spot her before she sees us.

Coordinating with the almost-autumn weather, she's wearing a heavy knitted cardigan matched with a pale yellow sundress that floats around her knees.

She looks a little different from usual, and I realize that she's left her hair down today, lose waves that hung around her slight shoulders and reached the middle of her back.

I've never seen such loveliness in a person before.

She comes bounding onto the platform with suitcase rolling noisily behind her, tiptoeing and neck stretching over the sea of heads. I can make out her lips cursing at her height and my own twitch at the corners.

Finally, our eyes meet and a pretty smile spreads across her face.

My insides contract and it's not a great feeling.

I've learnt how to cope with her smile, but I've never gotten used to it.

"Makoto-senpai!" she calls with an exaggerated wave. "Haruka-senpai!"

The next thing I know, she's discarded her suitcase completely and is throwing her arms around my neck.

My whole body freezes in that way that it does when I'm met with unexpected physical contact.

It takes me a good thirty seconds to reciprocate her embrace, and even then my arms are as welcoming as cold steel.

"I've missed you," she says next to my ear and I can't think.

_Say something, you idiot. _

_Ask her about her trip, how her grandparents are doing. _

_How was Osaka? _

_Did they have any pools?_

_At least tell her you missed her too._

But before my mind could orchestrate a coherent string of words, she's torn herself away from me and is giving Makoto similar treatment.

I watch them with a thousand and one things I should have said trapped at the base of my throat.

_Good one, Haru._

_Shut up, Haru. _

"Shall we get going?" Makoto says, grabbing up her suitcase.

He offers to carry it for her and I want to kick myself for not thinking of it first. I don't resent him, however, because things like that come to Makoto like a second nature.

We're heading back into town and, as always, Kou is carrying the conversation.

She's talking animatedly about her trip; how old fashioned her grandparents are, and how she'd gotten 'fat' from all the food they had given her.

She says she really liked Osaka, that she might even consider attending school there.

Big cities suited her apparently, but I personally couldn't picture her being out of place anywhere she goes, because she's just that kind of person.

She's probably said a lot more, but I'm only checking into the conversation every once in a while.

Instead, my focus is on everything else but the fact that she's walking so close to me that our knuckles occasionally brush with every other stride.

The effect it has on me is pathetic, and what little to no effect it has on her furthers the embarrassment.

And just when I think I've filtered her out, my ears prick at the mention of my name and I realize the conversation has moved on to what we've been up to in her absence.

"...I've been trying to get Haru to do something else besides swimming," Makoto's voice diffuses my mental barriers. "I got him to agree to sign up for some art classes..."

Kou spins her head towards me and gushes: "Wow, that's so cool, Haruka-senpai!" and I don't say anything back to her because I desperately want to remain cool in her eyes.

We're passing through the town center and it's bustling with people more than usual because it's lunchtime on a weekend.

Something smells great and Makoto easily reads my mind once again.

"Shall we get something to eat?" he suggests, eyes flickering towards me with a knowing glance. "I know that Haru's hungry. He's been thinking about mackerel non-stop since we got here!"

Her laughter fills my ears, and she uses her hand to cover her smile when she does.

_Don't do that._

"You like mackerel too much, Haruka-senpai!" she chides and I stare back at her blankly.

_I like _you_ too much. _

Kou gets to choose where we eat 'just because.' She picks a family run okonomiyaki restaurant that's reasonably priced and is already full of customers so we take that as a good sign.

Shown to our table, she excuses herself to use the bathroom and Makoto takes the opportunity to ask me for the _n_th time: "Haru, are you okay?"

I sense by the seriousness of his tone that he's trying to goad an honest response from me.

We take our seats and I lie: "yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

He shrugs his shoulders and says: "you're just extra quiet today, that's all," but doesn't pursue the topic any further because he can tell that I don't want to talk about.

And I'm grateful for that, just as much as I am grateful for him.

Knowing Makoto for over thirteen years now, made him like a brother I never had.

We've been best friends for so long that his understanding of me reaches that of almost psychic levels.

Where everyone else in the world struggles, Makoto reads me like an open book – and that's why I have to be careful with what I think around him nowadays.

And lately, there are days where I can't even look him in the eye.

Kou returns and takes the seat next to him, and I try not to register the lingering looks, the subtle touches, and the way his arm is slung across the back of her chair.

I try to ignore how their heads are close as they browse the menu together, his body molding to accommodate her and hers unconsciously curving into his, like the proximity is completely natural for them.

And I try not to think about how perfect she had felt in my arms earlier – yet how perfect _they_ are for each other.

I try not to count all the things in the world that I would trade to be in his place.

I have to force myself to block out all of these thoughts because...

...I can't let my best friend find out that I'm helplessly in love with his girlfriend.

"What are you having, Haruka-senpai?"

I haven't even glanced at the menu.

"Mackerel," I say.

* * *

**Authors Note: **

B–but where's the smut?! Sorry guys, next time, I promise!

This is my first attempt at first person prose – ever. I felt like challenging myself, and what is more challenging than writing for the enigma that is Nanase Haruka? I had a lot of fun with it. I hope Haru isn't too OC, let me know what you think in your reviews.

Thank you so much for all the follows, favorites and wonderful comments. I was really overwhelmed by the positive response the last chapter received.

Lots and lots of love for you all :)  
Panda


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